Sir Martin Sorrell

Speaker at

Sir Martin Sorrell is an English businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of WPP Group. He has served in that role since he started the company. WPP is regarded as the driving force for the period of consolidation which has been going on within the communications industry for the last ten to fifteen years. His WPP group has amassed the largest media buying group in the world, GroupM. Together with the creative agency networks, JWT, Ogilvy and Mather, Young & Rubicam and Grey, WPP is one of the three major players in the global advertising market.

X

Stephanie McMahon

Chief Brand Officer

Speaker at

As Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie McMahon is responsible for working with WWE’s business units to support key growth initiatives and represents WWE as its global brand ambassador. She is the primary spokesperson for WWE’s CSR initiatives, including Special Olympics, Susan G. Komen and Be a STAR, WWE’s anti-bullying program. In 2014, Stephanie and her husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, established Connor’s Cure, a fund dedicated to fighting Pediatric cancer. Stephanie is also a TV personality, appearing regularly on WWE’s flagship programming. She is a member of the 2017 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute and is also a member of the 2015 Eisenhower Fellowship class.

Prior to being named Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie was Executive Vice President, Creative and was responsible for overseeing the Digital and Creative Departments, as well as the creative development of all WWE television, pay-per-view programming, print, digital and social media content. She has also managed WWE’s Talent Relations, Talent Brand Management and Live Events businesses.

Stephanie is a member of the Board of Directors for WWE, USO Metropolitan Washington and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation. She has been recognized as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Cable” by CableFAX magazine for the past five years. Most recently, Stephanie was recognized as a “Wonder Woman” by Multichannel News for 2016 and was named to the Variety Power of Women Impact Report. Adweek also included Stephanie in their inaugural list of the 2016 Most Powerful Women in Sports.

X

Rich Gotham

President

Speaker at

In April of 2007, Rich Gotham was promoted to team President of Boston Celtics. In his role, Gotham is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics business operations. The Celtics are one of the most successful teams in North America. As a percentage of championships won, the Celtics are the most successful franchise to date in the major four traditional North American professional sports leagues. In June of 2006, Gotham was named Chief Operating Officer for the Boston Celtics. From April 2003 through June 2006, Gotham served as Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Corporate Development for the Celtics.

X

Gene McCarthy

President & Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Gene McCarthy is a distinguished and well known veteran of the Athletic and Outdoor Footwear and Apparel industries. In October of 2015 Mr. McCarthy was appointed President and CEO of Asics Americas Group which includes the United States with subsidiaries in Canada, Mexico, Brazil along with distributors throughout Latin America. Prior to that he was President of the Merrell Brand, a division of Wolverine WorldWide. Before then he was the SVP of Footwear at Under Armour where he oversaw the entire footwear organisation including design, development, merchandising and strategic planning. He also managed all financial accounts and directed the brand’s footwear distribution strategy.

Sir Dave Brailsford

Speaker at

David Brailsford has been involved in cycling throughout his career and has enjoyed a number of highlights. In 2008, in his role as Performance Director at British Cycling, he led the GB Cycling Team to an unprecedented 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games. He replicated this feat in 2012, leading Team GB to another 8 gold medals at the London Olympics. In 2010 Dave joined British based professional team, Team Sky, with the aim of bringing Britain its first ever Tour De France winner. In 2012 Dave achieved this, with Bradley Wiggins winning the prestigious race. One year later, it was under Dave’s leadership again that Chris Froome won the Tour De France for Team Sky. Dave received his knighthood for services to cycling and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on 28th February 2013.

X

Martin Glenn

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Martin Glenn joined the FA in March 2015 following a successful career at three of the largest companies in the UK. He spent 15 years at Walkers Crisps/ PepsiCo where he over saw the growth of the Walkers Crisps from a regional brand to Britain’s biggest supermarket brand. From there he moved to run two Private Equity backed companies, BirdsEye and United Biscuits. He led the latter to a successful sale at the end of 2014. In 2003 Martin was voted CEO of the year by Marketing Magazine and he was President of the Marketing Society from 2013-16. He joined the board of the Football Foundation in 2016. His involvement in football predates the FA role. He was Non- Executive director of Leicester city from 2002-06 and took his Level 1 FA Coaching badge in 2002.

Since joining the FA he has undertaken a process of modernising its practices and relationships and restoring its financials to allow more investment into Football projects. The FA’s investment into the game now stands at a record high of 125 million a year.

X

Ambarish Mitra

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Ambarish is the CEO and co-founder of Blippar, an augmented reality browser using artificial intelligence and computer vision to give people more from the world they see. Mitra was born in India and whilst working two jobs as a teenager, he won a nationwide business plan competition. The prize money helped to launch his first business, Women Infoline, which gave internet access to women earning below a certain wage. Ambarish sold the business at 21; moving to the UK and starting three business ventures over the next decade. In 2016, Ernst and Young named him UK Entrepreneur of the Year.

X

Michael Eisner

Owner

Speaker at

Eisner headed up The Walt Disney Company as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for 21 years. Prior to Disney, Eisner was President of Paramount Pictures, from 1976 to 1984, having come from working at the ABC Television Network for a decade. After leaving Disney, he set up The Tornante Company, LLC in 2005 and was one of the early investors in Netflix, as well as acquiring the trading card manufacturer Topps. Michael is understood to have previously shown an interest in acquiring a football team. In May 2017 Michael bought and took over Portsmouth FC from the Portsmouth’s supporters’ trust.

X

Val Ackerman

Commissioner

Speaker at

Val Ackerman was named the fifth Commissioner of the Big East Conference on June 26, 2013. She was the founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a past President of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball program. She has had a long and accomplished career in the sports industry and is one of the few sports executives who has held leadership positions in both men’s and women’s sports at the collegiate, professional, national team and international levels.

Ackerman attended the University of Virginia as one of the school’s first female student-athlete scholarship recipients. She was a four-year starter, three-time captain and two-time Academic All-American for the Cavaliers’ women’s basketball team and the first 1,000-point scorer in the program’s history. She graduated with high distinction with a degree in political and social thought in 1981 and played one year of professional basketball in France before earning a law degree from UCLA in 1985.

X

Rahul Kadavakolu

Executive Director - Global Marketing & Branding

Speaker at

Rahul is Executive Director of Global Marketing & Branding at Rakuten Inc. He joined in 2016 from Wipro to help build and drive Rakuten’s global brand and marketing agenda. One of his core missions is to position Rakuten as one of the world’s foremost innovative companies by bringing together the pillars of strategy, design and technology. By identifying innovative concepts and best practices that can be applied across multiple markets, Rahul is responsible for strategy and execution of marketing and branding for Rakuten’s extensive global business portfolio. He has been instrumental in negotiating and signing the FC Barcelona partnership and making Rakuten, FCB’s “Global Innovation and Entertainment” partner.

He has over 16+ years of proven experience across brand management, communications and field marketing in various industries with a focus in IT, Internet Services and Technology sector. Rahul received his Bachelor’s in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai, India.

X

Matthew Marolda

Chief Analytics Officer

Speaker at

Matthew Marolda is Chief Analytics Officer at Legendary Entertainment. He formed and runs Legendary’s Applied Analytics division, which uses data and analytics to drive strategic decisions across all aspects of the company.Prior to Legendary, Mr. Marolda founded StratBridge LLC in 1999. StratBridge had two software solutions businesses: “moneyball” player analysis software used by many organizations in the NFL, NBA, European Football and Major League Soccer (sold to XOS Digital in 2012), and dynamic pricing and revenue analysis software used by many professional sports teams (acquired by Legendary in 2014, after Mr. Marolda had joined Legendary). He earned his MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth where he won the Adams Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship. Mr. Marolda graduated from Bowdoin College with Honors, earning majors in economics and mathematics and a minor in art history.

X

Werner Brell

Chief Engagement Officer

Speaker at

Werner Brell joined Samsung Electronics America, as its Chief Engagement Officer. He has made a name for himself for creating world-class content and programming, and inventing new development, production, distribution and monetization strategies across all media platforms. In his current role, Werner spearheads Samsung’s passion point marketing efforts, as well as social media, to drive consumer engagement in new, innovative ways and continue to personalize and contextualize the Samsung brand in the United States.

Werner comes from Red Bull, where most recently he served as President of Red Bull Media House North America where he built and led a world-class team to develop and drive Red Bull’s successful content and digital media efforts with a coveted young audience.

X

Billy Beane

Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations

Speaker at

Beane turned the identification and recruitment of talented players into a science, famously charted in the best-selling book ‘Moneyball’ and has moulded the A’s into a perennial post-season contender whilst running the club as one of the most cost effective teams in the MLB. Throughout his career Beane has been awarded a number of prestigious honours including; The Sporting News’ Executive of the Year, MLB’s Executive of the Year, and Street & Smith’s Sport Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list. Billy Beane was drafted by the New York Mets in 1980 and spent most of the 1980s in the minor leagues. He played six seasons in the major leagues before joining the management team of the Oakland Athletics in 1990, becoming general manager in 1997. His innovative management style inspired the 2003 book Moneyball, which was made into a film in 2011, starring Brad Pitt as Beane.

X

Dolly Jones

Digital Content & Strategy Director

Speaker at

Dolly Jones is the Digital Content & Strategy Director of Condé Nast. In January 2000, she became a writer for VOGUE. COM, before being named editor in 2005. In 2015 she returned to become Digital Strategy Director, to align editorial and commercial strategies for greater user and client engagement across the portfolio. During her time at Vogue and since, she has written regularly about ethical fashion and sustainable living.

Keith Grossman

Speaker at

In just over two years at Bloomberg Media, Grossman has solidified his position as a vital exec in the company. In the past year alone, Grossman, 36, has received two major promotions from publisher of Bloomberg Digital and Digital Products to Head of U.S. Sales last November, and then to Global CRO in September. Thanks to his initiatives which include; building a programmatic business from scratch, launching a B2B marketing services group, selling advertisement inventory for Bloomberg’s livestreams of the presidential debates on Twitter, Bloomberg Media’s total revenue has grown 8 percent year-on-year.

X

Brett Yormark

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

As Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, Brett Yormark oversees the business enterprise that manages and controls the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, the New York Islanders business operations, the new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and the Nets’ Development League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. Yormark is a member of the Board of Advisory Directors for both the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center. Alongside Charlie Walk of the Republic Group, Yormark co-founded the BSE Advisory Board, which provides strategic guidance and supports development initiatives and unique content opportunities for Barclays Center.

X

Sebastian Coe

President

Speaker at

Sebastian Coe is President of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), Executive Chairman of CSM Sport and Entertainment and one of the world’s most high profile sportsmen having been a competitor, sports administrator, event organiser, campaigner, media commentator, and a life-long sports fan. He was Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, having previously been Chairman of the London 2012 bid company and was Chairman of the British Olympic Committee in the lead up to and during the unprecedented medal success of Team GB at the Rio Olympic Games.
Seb set 12 world records during his athletic career and at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 he won Gold in the 1500m and Silver in the 800m a feat that he repeated in Los Angeles in 1984.
Seb retired from competitive athletics in 1990 and became a conservative MP and Private Secretary to William Hague. In 2002 he was made a Peer. He received a Knighthood in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List and received a Companion of Honour in the 2013 New Year’s Honours List.
In addition to a number of other roles in sport Seb is also Pro-Chancellor of Loughborough University where he studied as an undergraduate, a Non-Executive Director of VitalityHealth & Life Group of Companies and serves as an Ambassador for BMW. He is a Member of the Laureus World Sport Academy and a Consultant for his beloved Chelsea Football Club.

X

Chris Park

Executive Vice President, Global Marketing and Partnerships

Speaker at

Park directs MLB’s strategy for continuing the sport’s global growth. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Baseball’s international business initiatives, including MLB’s global events, television, sponsorship, licensing, new market development and grassroots development in the sport’s non-traditional areas. He also plays a key role in the World Baseball Classic, the global tournament jointly operated by MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Chris has also previously worked as Vice President, Labor Economics & Deputy General Counsel for Major League Baseball.

X

Michael Yormark

President and Chief of Branding and Strategy

Speaker at

Michael R. Yormark is President & Chief of Branding and Strategy for Roc Nation and responsible for marketing, branding, strategic partnerships and business development for the full-service company inclusive of artists, athletes, songwriters, music publishing, touring & merchandising, film & television, and a music label. Yormark leads the effort to create and develop optimal opportunities for the Roc Nation brand, and its roster of athletes and artists, through strategic partnerships. He is also responsible for increasing revenue and awareness for all Roc Nation brands and properties, as the company continues to set the standard for global innovation.

Michael possesses over 20 years of industry experience, most recently as President & CEO of Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the Florida Panthers and the BB&T Center in South Florida where he was a SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 winner and brokered the most lucrative naming rights partnership in BB&T Center history.

X

Fiona Taag

Head of Global Sponsorship & Europe Marketing Communications

Speaker at

Following working in the UK for six years in various roles, Fiona Taag first joined DHL in 2005 as Marketing Manager in New Zealand, and later moved to Bahrain as Middle East & North Africa Marketing Manager. She then returned to New Zealand to manage the DHL Express global sponsorship of RWC 2011. In 2012, she joined the Deutsche Post DHL Group head office in Germany as Global Sponsorship Manager, and again had the opportunity to manage DHL’s partnership of RWC 2015. As Head of Global Sponsorship, she currently manages partnerships for DHL Express including the World Rugby Sevens Series, Manchester United, MotoGP™, Exhibitionism – The Rolling Stones, The Grand Tour and AEG, as well as assisting colleagues around the world to activate Formula 1®, Fashion, Formula E and a variety of local partnerships.

X

John Ridding

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

John is the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Times. He was formerly Editor and Publisher of the Financial Times, Asia, as well as Chairman of Pearson in Asia. John led the launch of the Asia edition of the FT in 2003. It won the award for the best newspaper from the Society of Publishers in Asia in its launch year and received top awards for business reporting, scoops and newspaper design at the same ceremony in 2006. During his tenure, the FT has gained a wide reputation for boldness and innovation, including pioneering the metered access model.

X

Dan Reed

Head of Global Sports Partnerships

Speaker at

Dan Reed is Facebook’s Head of Global Sports Partnerships, where he leads the company’s efforts to connect hundreds of millions of sports fans on Facebook and Instagram with their sports passions. In this role, Reed manages strategic partnerships with sports leagues, teams, athletes, broadcasters and publishers around the world to help these partners connect with fans, and build innovative social experiences that drive their business. Reed joined Facebook after a 10-year career at the National Basketball Association where, as President of the NBA Development League, he led a turnaround of the NBA’s minor league into a financially valuable property and a thriving talent development system for the NBA.

X

Steve Kaplan

Co-Owner

Speaker at

Stephen A Kaplan was a founder of Oaktree Capital Group, LLC, and currently an Oaktree Advisory Partner having retired from day-to-day activities at the end of 2016. At Oaktree, Mr Kaplan founded and built the Global Principal Group which focuses on control investments in the United States, Europe and Asia. Over the past several years Mr. Kaplan has built a significant business in sports ownership. He is the Managing General Partner of Swansea City Football, a football team based in Wales playing in the English Premier League.

In 2012, Mr. Kaplan was part of a group of investors that purchased the Memphis Grizzlies. He currently serves as the Grizzlies Vice-Chairman and has served as an Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the National Basketball Association. Mr. Kaplan is also an early stage investor in, and a board member of, Immortals, a leading company that owns teams competing in the emerging arena of video game competition.

X

Mark Kirkham

Head of Marketing & Innovation

Speaker at

Mark Kirkham is Head of Marketing and Innovation for PepsiCo Beverages, Western Europe. In this role, Mark is responsible for all regional brand strategy, marketing programs and innovation platforms across the beverages portfolio; including brands such as Pepsi Max, 7UP, Lipton Iced Tea and Gatorade.

Since joining PepsiCo in 2010, Mark has held a variety of marketing leadership roles at both the global and regional level. This included running the Pepsi brand globally; leading programs such as Pepsi’s partnership with UEFA Champions League, global PepsiMoji program, the new Pepsi Challenge, and the reintroduction of Pepsi Perfect in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future II.

Prior to running brand Pepsi, Mark led the global Mountain Dew business. During his tenure he drove the expansion of Dew across Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America – driving double digital international growth for the brand. He led the development and expansion of the Dew Tour action sports platform internationally and evolution of the iconic “Do the Dew” campaign. Before joining the Dew team, Mark led global innovation programs for Pepsi as well as new product and packaging initiatives across PepsiCo’s soft drink portfolio in the US.

X

Noah Whinston

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

With a background in data driven sports betting and dropping out of college, Noah Whinston leads the powerhouse esports franchise Immortals as founder and CEO. Whinston’s esports experience ranges from negotiating streaming and sponsorship deals and creating content strategy to cleaning up after Immortals’ professional esports athletes.

X

Sundance DiGiovanni

Co-Founder and Vice President, Brands & Content

Speaker at

Sundance is a seasoned executive, recognized thought leader in video game culture, and veteran creative director with more than 18 years of experience in the media, technology and video game industries. He co-founded MLG in 2002 with Mike Sepso, with the goal of creating a company that would reflect both his lifelong passion for gaming and his deeply competitive nature. Sundance currently serves as the CEO of MLG, focusing on the long-term growth of competitive video gaming and the various distribution channels that are helping to bring this burgeoning sport to an ever-growing community. Prior to co-founding MLG, Sundance was Worldwide Creative director at Gotham Broadband, a broadband media pioneer. He is a veteran creative executive and has worked closely with a wide variety of brands, including AOL Time Warner, DirecTV, Sony, Pfizer, Nortel Networks, and Sprint.

X

Raphael Poplock

Executive Vice President, Partnerships and Business Development

Speaker at

Raphael Poplock joined The Players’ Tribune as Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Business Development. In his role, Poplock oversees partnerships, audience development, product technology, and distribution for The Players’ Tribune. He also works closely with Jaymee Messler, President, on strategy, sales and marketing. Prior to joining The Players’ Tribune, Poplock served as Vice President of Partnerships for ESPN, where he led the global partnerships and cross-platform games businesses. Whilst at ESPN, he also oversaw audience development and new revenue-driving activities across digital media products.

X

Nakisa Bidarian

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Speaker at

Nakisa is currently CEO and Co-Founder of newly launched private investment firm, Fertitta Capital, and is responsible for the deployment of the Firm’s capital. Prior to co-founding Fertitta Capital, he served as the CFO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) where he led the conceptualization, negotiation and execution of sale as well as previously occupying a Vice Presidency role of strategy and business ventures. Nakisa has also held positions with Accenture, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and most recently the Mubadala Development Company, a multi-million-dollar sovereign investment company of the government of Abu Dhabi, where he spearheaded their international real estate investment efforts.

X

Paul Kemp-Robertson

Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer

Speaker at

After graduating with a master’s degree from University of London, Goldsmiths’ College, Paul started his career at corporate communications firm Maritz before helping to launch Shots magazine in 1990. After a spell in commercials production, Paul returned to shots and became editor in 1994. Subscriptions trebled under his tenure.

In 1998 he became Leo Burnett’s worldwide director of creative resources, based in Chicago. Paul was responsible for the agency’s Creative Exchange department and its quarterly creative councils, known as the Global Product Committee. Paul left Leo Burnett in 2004 to co-found Contagious – an editorial resource and innovation consultancy that equips marketers and agencies across the globe to navigate the immediate future.

Paul has written numerous articles for publications including Business 2.0, The Guardian, Hollywood Reporter and M&M Europe, as well as co-editing D&AD’s The Commercials Book. He has appeared on CNN.com, ITV News, BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme and 5 Live’s Wake Up To Money. His TED Talk on Alternative Currencies has been viewed more than one million times. He is currently writing The Contagious Commandments book, to be published by Portfolio Penguin in 2018.

X

Daniel Fiden

President

Speaker at

Dan Fiden is the President of Cloud9 Esports, the most watched esports organization in the Western world. Cloud9 has eleven teams competing across ten games, and owns the London franchise for Blizzard’s Overwatch League. Dan became involved in Cloud9 as an investor first, joining the Board of Directors and leading led the Seed investment round, alongside NFL legend Joe Montana, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, SpaceX and Tesla Board Member Kimbal Musk, Golden State Warriors owner Chamath Palihapitiya, and others.

Earlier in his career, Dan was a founding partner of Signia Venture Partners, an early stage venture fund, where he led investments in “Vainglory” creator Super Evil Megacorp, FunPlus, and early stage technology businesses. A year after investing in FunPlus, he joined the company as CSO. FunPlus was sold for over $1BN three years later. FunPlus founder Andy Zhong and Dan cofounded FunPlus Ventures. Dan serves on the Boards of Directors of Cloud9 Esports, Sirvo Studios, and Stress Level Zero, and the Game Developers Conference.

X

Gerry Cardinale

Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Gerry Cardinale is the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of RedBird Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm that brings together entrepreneurs and family offices to make growth equity investments in partnership with business founders who have a proven track record of success. Launched in 2013 with offices in New York and Dallas, RedBird focuses on long term capital appreciation with an emphasis on compounding equity returns over longer holding periods to maximize superior risk-adjusted returns. To date, RedBird has led over $1.5 billion of investments across its four key industry verticals – Communications; Sports, Leisure & Hospitality; Energy and Industrial Services; and Financial & Business Services.

Mr. Cardinale has had a 25-year career investing in Sports and Sports Media. Most recently, Mr. Cardinale has led RedBird’s investment in On Location Experiences, a recapitalization in partnership with the National Football League (NFL) of its global ticketing, hospitality and events business.

Prior to RedBird and during his 20-year tenure at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner of the firm and its Merchant Banking private equity business, Mr. Cardinale helped create two multi-billion sports-related businesses — the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (“YES”) Network, which today is the #1 Regional Sports Network in the United States; and Legends Hospitality, a premium ticketing, concessions and merchandising services company which was created in partnership with the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys.

X

Giorgio Marchetti

Deputy General Secretary, Director of Football

Speaker at

Giorgio Marchetti is UEFA’s Deputy General Secretary and Director of Football. In his current positions, he is responsible for all UEFA club and national team competitions, at senior and youth level, in addition to playing a key role in governance and commercial matters. Giorgio joined European football’s governing body in February 2004 as Director of Professional Football and Marketing and was also Director of Competitions. Prior to working at UEFA, Giorgio had been general secretary of the Italian League (Lega Calcio) for seven years between 1997 and 2004, having served as deputy secretary from 1991.

Oliver Luck

Speaker at

Oliver Luck is the NCAA’s first executive vice president for regulatory affairs and oversees all NCAA regulatory functions – enforcement, academic and membership affairs, and the eligibility center.

He leads a team of individuals responsible for investigating potential violations involving member schools in order to uphold integrity and fair play among the NCAA membership. He is also involved in legislative interpretations, waiver requests, and academic and amateurism certification. In addition to his regulatory affairs responsibilities, he oversees football strategy, and corporate and media relationships at the NCAA.

Luck joined the NCAA in 2014 after a successful four-year run as the director of athletics at West Virginia University. He led West Virginia into the Big 12 Conference and presided over the best fundraising year in school history (2012). In 2005, Luck was appointed the first president of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo, helping the organization to a pair of MLS Cup titles in his first two years at the helm. He also served as the CEO of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority and as the President of NFL Europe.

X

Jim Van Stone

President, Business Operations & Chief Commercial Officer

Speaker at

In his role as President of Business Operations and Chief Commercial Officer, Van Stone oversees ticket sales and service, global partnerships, executive suites, marketing and retail business. Previously Van Stone was MSE’s chief revenue officer, overseeing ticket sales and service, executive suites and corporate partnerships. He joined the Capitals as Vice president of Ticket Sales and Service in 2007 before transitioning to his MSE role in 2010. Van Stone previously held senior positions with the Phoenix Coyotes and Comcast-Spectacor, working with both the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Van Stone joined Monumental, which merged Lincoln Holdings and Washington Sports & Entertainment in 2010, after serving as the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service at the Capitals since 2007.

Prior to working with the Capitals, Jim was Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales for the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) and Arizona Sting (NLL). Previously, Jim served as Vice President of Sales for both Comcast-Spectacor sports teams, the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers.

X

Patrick Cryne

Owner

Speaker at

Mr. Patrick Cryne has been Chairman of the Board and Director of Isoft Group Plc since 14 December 2004. He is the Owner of Barnsley Football Club and serves as its Director. He has specific responsibility for corporate development, focusing on areas such as evaluation of opportunities in new geographical regions, product development strategy and managing the iSOFT’s strategic partner relationships.

X

Ibtihaj Muhammad

US Olympic Athlete

Speaker at

Ibtihaj Muhammad is an American sabre fencer, and a member of the United States fencing team. She is best known for being the first Muslim American woman to wear a hijab while competing for the United States in the Olympics. In individual sabre at the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won her first qualifying round bout, and was defeated in the second round by Cécilia Berder of France. She earned the bronze medal as part of Team USA in the Team Sabre, becoming the first female Muslim-American athlete to earn a medal at the Olympics.

X

Jay Williams

Former NBA player and Executive Producer

Speaker at

Jason David Williams is an American former basketball player and current college basketball analyst. He played college basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils and professionally for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. Williams works for ESPN as a college basketball analyst. He has also done motivational speaking and worked as an analyst on CBS College Sports Network during the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. He was a recruiter for sports agency Ceruzzi Sports and Entertainment from 2007–09. In 2016, Williams released his autobiography, “Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention”. Presently, Williams is the Spokesperson of Visions Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Endwell, New York.

X

Kolo Toure

Former Professional Footballer

Speaker at

Kolo Abib Touré is an Ivorian former footballer. He played as a defender for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and the Ivory Coast national team. On 9 August 2017, the Ivorian Football Federation announced that Touré would be part of the coaching staff for the under-23 teams. He joined Celtic’s coaching staff as a technical assistant in September 2017.

X

Paulo Ferreira

Former Professional Footballer

Speaker at

Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a defender. After starting out at Estoril, he went on to spend the vast majority of his 16-year professional career with Porto and Chelsea, signing with the latter in 2004 for €20 million. He won several major titles with both clubs, including two Primeira Liga titles, three Premier League trophies and the 2004 and 2012 editions of the Champions League.

Ferreira earned 62 caps for the Portugal national team between 2002 and 2010, playing at two European Championships and two World Cups and finishing as runner-up at Euro 2004. After retiring, Ferreira worked for Chelsea as an ambassador and assistant loan player technical coach.

X

Alex Scott MBE

Professional Footballer

Speaker at

Alexandra Virina Scott, MBE is an English footballer who plays as a right-back for Arsenal in the FA WSL. Scott made 140 appearances for the English national team and also represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics. At club level Scott has had three separate spells with Arsenal, punctuated with a season at Birmingham City in 2004–05 and three years in the American Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) with Boston Breakers. She scored the winning goal for Arsenal in the 2007 UEFA Women’s Cup Final.

X

Ryan Atkin

Professional Referee

Speaker at

Ryan Atkin will be the first openly gay professional referee officiating in the English Football League this season. The 32-year-old will take charges of games in the National League North and South this term as well as fourth official duties in the EFL and National League.

Ryan began refereeing in his hometown of Plymouth in 1999 and was first promoted to Football League duties as an assistant referee in 2009, running the line in various fixtures – including Championship matches – before stepping down from those duties at the end of the 2015-16 campaign in order to follow the main referee career path. By contributing to the ongoing conversations around LGBT inclusion in sport, Atkin hopes to inspire others who may fear their sexuality or gender identity is a barrier to participation, to get more involved.

X

Peter Klomp

Head of Corporate Communications

Speaker at

Peter became the Head of Corporate Communications of UEFA in January 2016. His previous role was being the Communications Director of Volvo Ocean Race Sponsorship, Powerhouse, where he managed the communications and sponsorship for the Powerhouse campaign in the 2014-’15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. He also is the Author of the management book: ‘Naar de Haaien’, leiderschapslessen uit een schipbreuk en comeback in de Volvo Ocean Race’ (UK: To Hell and Back). Before Powerhouse Peter was the Head of the Reputation Management and External Relations department of Essent Oil & Energy company.

X

Claude Makélélé

Assistant Coach

Speaker at

Claude Makélélé Sinda is a French former footballer and current assistant coach at Premier League club Swansea City. In his playing career, which ended at Paris Saint-Germain, Makélélé also played for Nantes, Marseille, Celta de Vigo, Real Madrid and Chelsea. He won league titles in France, Spain and England, as well as the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League during his time with Real Madrid.

Makélélé was a French international for 13 years, and was part of the France national team which reached the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also represented his nation at the 2002 World Cup, two UEFA European Football Championships and the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Regarded as one of the greatest ever players in his position, Makélélé has been credited with redefining the defensive midfield role in English football, especially during the 2004–05 FA Premier League season, where he played a key role in helping Chelsea win the title with 95 points. In homage to Makélélé, many fans and pundits alike have dubbed the defensive midfield position the “Makélélé Role”.

Phil Lynch

Speaker at

Phil Lynch is Chief Executive Officer of Media at Manchester United, where he is responsible for overseeing the club’s media initiatives, including the management and operations of MUTV (the club’s 24×7 linear television network), the creation and editorial oversight of United Review (official match day programme) and Inside United (official monthly magazine) as well as the club’s digital media partnerships and direct to consumer products.

Prior to his time at Manchester United, Phil was the Global Head / Vice President of Content & Media Partnerships at Yahoo, overseeing 3500+ content partnerships across all verticals, as well as their digital distribution efforts. During his tenure, he was selected by Variety as one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders” for 2016 and credited with developing Yahoo’s over the top live sports offering via securing broadcast rights and partnerships with the likes of the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, and PGA Tour.

Prior to Yahoo, Phil was the senior vice president, digital networks & games for Sony Pictures Television (SPT). In this position, he was responsible for negotiating distribution deals and managing relationships with partners on behalf of Crackle, the studio’s multi-platform video entertainment network worldwide, and for acquisitions, programming, marketing and operations for Crackle’s English language services in the US, Canada and Australia.

X

Paul Rogers

Head of Social and Digital Media

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSAS Roma/European Tour/Minnesota Vikings: Unlocking the Value : Getting ahead in the Race for Sponsorship

Paul is the Head of Digital and Social Media at AS Roma. He’s responsible for developing the club’s digital media strategy – helping the club to communicate with new and existing supporters all over the world. Formerly Head of International Development at Liverpool FC, where he worked for 14 years, he has experience in creating content and marketing strategies, brand building, strategic planning, social media, digital journalism, TV production, rights negotiations and generating new revenue streams through content.

X

Jenny Mann

Head of Sport Partnerships & Coordination

Speaker at

Jenny Mann is responsible for managing strategic projects for the sports department at the International Olympic Committee. She also oversees the IOC’s partnerships with the World Olympians Association, IOC Recognised Organisations and IOC Recognised International Federations. Jenny has spent the past twenty years working in Olympic sports including three Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, London 2012, and Rio 2016), IAAF World Championships and ITU triathlon events.

X

Ben Ladkin

General Manager, Arsenal Media Group

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSArsenal/McLaren/Milwaukee Bucks: Panning for Gold - Making Sense of the Glut of Numbers

After working as an Account Director and Digital Specialist for blue chips clients such as 3M, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Norton Rose, Ben moved client side just over 8 years ago to work in Arsenal’s digital team. In this time he has delivered numerous digital projects including a major redesign of Arsenal.com and the new video site Arsenal Player, two mobile apps as well as a highly successful social media strategy. He was made General Manager of the Media Group in 2014 and now manages a team of 37 delivering official Arsenal content across digital, TV and print.

X

Nicolai Sønderby Knudsen

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Speaker at

Microsoft partnered with Astralis last year and is one of the company’s first moves into the Esports world. As Windows is the main platform Esports is used on, it’s a natural strategic partnership fit for them to enter into.

X

Kevin Brilliant

Behavioral Economist

Speaker at

Kevin Brilliant joined the Chicago Bulls in 2015 in a Business Strategy & Analytics role that combines behavioural science, analytics, and fan engagement. Prior to joining the Bulls, Brilliant completed his MBA at The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University with a focus on behavioural economics. During his time at Duke, Brilliant joined Dan Ariely’s Center for Advanced Hindsight where he worked with Ariely and his team of researchers to study applications of behavioural economics in sports.

In December of 2015, Kevin co-founded the Duke Behavioural Science & Sports Roundtable which convened leading researchers and senior sports executives to explore behavioural science as the next frontier in sports business and fan engagement. A passionate fan of sports analytics, Kevin also helped lead a joint venture between Duke Athletics and software giant SAP to build a first of its kind in college sports data visualisation tool for Duke Men’s Basketball.

X

Theo Luke

Director - Content Partnerships (EMEA)

Speaker at

Theo started his career as a reporter for BBC local radio before moving to Google when they launched it’s UK office. At Google, Theo worked at YouTube managing the Major record labels, bringing Channel 4 onto the platform and launched the Queen’s YouTube channel. He left the company to head up Digital at Simon Cowell’s production company Syco, before leaving Cowell for the bright lights of Twitter, where he heads up the sports team focussing on video monetization.

X

Luis Goicouria

Senior Vice President, Digital Platforms and Media Strategy

Speaker at

Luis Goicouria is Senior Vice President, Digital Platforms and Media Strategy for the PGA TOUR. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects for PGA TOUR Digital and is responsible for developing and implementing strategies which position the TOUR to take advantage of emerging technologies, markets, and content distribution. He joined the TOUR in October of 2011 as Vice President Business Development, New Media and was instrumental in bringing all of the TOUR’s digital assets and capabilities in-house in 2013. Luis directed the launch of SkratchTV.com (a millennial focused content play), and the conception of PGA TOUR Live (a new OTT subscription service) in 2015. He also supervised the deal-making and strategic support efforts for the PGA TOUR’s new media platforms, including PGATOUR.COM and mobile applications.

Prior to joining the PGA TOUR, Goicouria spent 15 years at MTV Networks, the last ten of which he served as Vice President, Digital Media for Latin America, Canada & U.S. Hispanic for MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, & MTV Tres. Luis spent his first five years at MTV with Nickelodeon Latin America and was responsible for the launch of all of their digital platforms.

X

Dewayne Hankins

Chief Marketing Officer

Speaker at

Dewayne Hankins enters his fifth season with the Trail Blazers and Rose Quarter in 2017-18, and second as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). In his current role, Hankins oversees the overall brand strategy, innovation efforts and corporate communications for the Trail Blazers and Rose Quarter. Hankins previously held the role of Senior Vice President of Brand Strategy & Digital. Under his leadership, the team’s digitally-focused marketing campaigns helped achieve franchise records in individual game ticket sales, the Trail Blazers and Rose Quarter sites underwent significant responsive site redesigns, and the team increased its outreach to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest with strategic brand activations. Hankins directs the critically-acclaimed Trail Blazers social media team and won the NBA Digital Innovation Award in 2017, 2016 and 2014. Hankins also oversaw the recent re-brand of the new Trail Blazers logo and uniforms and will advise on the Trail Blazers NBA 2K esports team.

His executive role has also grown within Vulcan, Inc., parent company of the Trail Blazers, to include strategic direction for the marketing, digital media and advertising of Vulcan Arts+Entertainment properties Upstream Music Fest + Summit, MoPop, Seattle Art Fair, Flying Heritage & Combat Museum, Living Computers Museum + Labs, New Orleans Food + Funk Festival and The Hospital Club. Before joining the organization from Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Hankins oversaw the digital efforts of AEG’s sports properties worldwide, including the LA Kings and LA Galaxy, most notably the Kings’ cutting-edge social media initiatives from 2010-13. Prior to joining AEG, he spent time with the Minnesota Wild and Miami Marlins. Hankins currently serves on the NBA Team Marketing Advisory Board, the development committee for the Right Brain Initiative, as a board member for Special Olympics Oregon and sits on the Marketo Executive Council.

X

Yvonne Hobden

Consumer Marketing Lead

Speaker at

Yvonne is the Consumer Marketing lead for HP UK. She loves tech and anything to do with tech and is currently building the Omen by HP brand in the UK with a focus on supporting the eSports industry. Earlier in her career she was the Senior Online Advertising Manager for EE and has also been the Head of Retail Campaigns for T-Mobile.

X

Michael Davies

Senior Vice President, Field & Technical Operations

Speaker at

Michael Davies oversees manages all day-to-day aspects of live broadcast operations and oversees integration of new and emerging technologies for Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1. With over two decades of experience in sports television, Davies specializes in technical production and innovation for large sporting events. As the Head of Field and Technical Operations, he manages a highly talented team of individuals responsible for the thousands of live sports broadcast yearly at Fox, including the technical execution of Super Bowls XLII, XLV, XLVIII and LI. In 2016, Davies oversaw Fox Sports broadcasts of the Daytona 500, the US Open, MLB All Star Game and World Series, as well as the productions of various live VR events. In addition to technical design and oversight, Davies works within the FOX SPORTS LAB, a designed approach to exploring technical partnerships to enhance the viewing experience.

Before joining FOX Sports in 2006 as Director of Field Operations, Davies was with HBO Sports for 10 years. Davies has won multiple Sports Emmy Awards for his work with both FOX Sports and HBO including technical team remotes for NASCAR, MLB and NFL coverage and long form sports programming.

X

Jordi Roig

Chief Commercial Officer

Speaker at

Jordi has a livelong background in marketing within pro-sport and entertainment. He has worked with established brands, like 10 times Danish Soccer Champion Brøndby IF, developing existing brand- and fanbases into prize winning digital marketing assets and with new sport entertainment brand handball team AG Copenhagen, with whom he broke a lot of commercial records among others filling the national Danish soccer stadium twice with world record audience figure of more than 36.000 spectators. Outside pro-sports, Jordi has worked for Nordisk Film helping commercially develop entertainment clients like major Scandinavian opera- and music houses, rockfestivals and musical producers etc.

The outstanding audience experience is for Jordi key to any monetization potential within the entertainment industry, whether it be in direct star-to-fan communication, viewing experience on flow or streamchannels or live offline experience. The outstanding audience experience is what creates both fanbase size and fanbase affinity and thus allows for creating valuable strong emotional leveraged marketing platforms.

Jordi uses his vast experience in the field to build platforms bridging brands to a demanding hard-to-get target group that has developed its own communication channels, norms and values and that calls “fake” in a split second.

X

Peter Feigin

President

Speaker at

Peter Feigin brings over two decades of dynamic corporate leadership to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he’s charged with spearheading the next chapter of the storied team’s legacy. Since taking over as President of the Bucks in October, 2014, Feigin has been instrumental in driving the vision, financing, planning, design and construction of a new multi-purpose arena in downtown Milwaukee, the team’s new training center — Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center – which opened in August, and 30 acres of mixed-use development surrounding the project to create a vibrant, urban community in the heart of Milwaukee.

Feigin has also reimagined, rebuilt and reenergized the Bucks’ business operations, resulting in substantial increases in attendance, ticket revenue, merchandise revenue, partnership sales and TV viewership.

Feigin’s experience cuts across a wide spectrum of business and entertainment corporations. Prior to joining the Bucks, Feigin served as the Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, where he managed global business units and handled branding and business development. Prior to joining Deluxe, Feigin was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Marquis Jet Partners Inc./NetJets, and was the driving force behind Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets acquisition of Marquis Jet in 2010, where he played a central role in the integration of the two companies.

X

Tim Hunt

Head of Marketing

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSAS Roma/European Tour/Minnesota Vikings: Unlocking the Value : Getting ahead in the Race for Sponsorship

Tim is responsible for the growth of consumer awareness & engagement in The Tour & The Ryder Cup worldwide. Developing strategies to commercialise their consumer asset and derive increased revenue from sponsors & broadcasters alike. The Tour has recently introduced GolfSixes which is being dubbed as the T20 of golf, attracting a new type of audience for the sport. Massively speeding up the pace of the game and giving much closer access to the players. Before stepping into his current role at PGA European Tour, he was the Brand Director for them for over 3 years and has also been a Consultant for the ATP Tour.

X

Brendan Donohue

Managing Director

Speaker at

As Managing Director of the NBA 2K League, Brendan Donohue is responsible for overseeing the newly formed esports league set to launch in 2018. Donohue, a sports industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in team and league operations, manages a league that will feature 17 NBA teams in its inaugural season.

Prior to assuming his current role in April 2017, Donohue served as Senior Vice President of the NBA’s industry-renowned Team Marketing & Business Operations (TMBO) department, where he led the strategic planning and management for all teams across the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League, helping them innovate in sales, marketing, digital and analytical areas of their business. He was instrumental in several of TMBO’s accomplishments, including assisting with ownership transitions in Sacramento, Philadelphia, Detroit and Memphis. His responsibilities also included leading team business discussions at WNBA and NBA G League Board of Governors meetings and presenting at frequent workshops, including assisting NBA team presidents on best practices in marketing, ticket sales and sponsorship sales.

Before joining the NBA league office in 2009, Donohue spent five years as Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service with the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena. During his career in Atlanta, Donohue led five consecutive seasons of revenue growth, including ranking first in the NBA in ticket revenue growth during the 2008-09 season. He also previously held positions with the then-New Orleans Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and Palace Sports and Entertainment.

X

Rob Bloom

Group Head of Digital & Social Media

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSArsenal/McLaren/Milwaukee Bucks: Panning for Gold - Making Sense of the Glut of Numbers

Rob Bloom leads the digital and social media team to redefine the McLaren digital strategy and drive value back into the brand. Since his arrival, Rob has established a sophisticated fan engagement strategy and elevated McLaren to a position of prominence in the global sports marketing industry. At the time of arrival in 2012, Rob formed one half of the in-house digital team at McLaren. The McLaren Formula 1 team had just under 700k followers on social media and minimal engagement. At the turn of 2017, the team has over 7m followers and the highest average engagement rate in Formula 1. The recent car launch generated 190m hashtag impressions and 1m social media engagements.

Equally, McLaren’s online sponsor partner activation has transitioned to a pioneering position of truly relevant, seamless integration of partners into the holistic narrative: positioning McLaren’s feeds as a curation of engaging, insightful content from the team, its partners and its fans.

X

Eric Black

Chief Technology Officer

Speaker at

Eric Black was named Chief Technology Officer of NBC Sports Group Digital in 2015. Black manages all IP-delivered platforms for NBC Sports Digital, including its numerous websites, applications and connected devices. He also oversees NBC Sports’ Playmaker Media, a separate business which provides end-to-end video support service for companies in need of best-in-class live streaming and VOD solutions.

Under Black’s leadership, NBC Sports Digital and Playmaker Media have streamed some of the most prestigious properties in sports, including five Olympic Games, two Super Bowls, Sunday Night Football – primetime television’s No. 1 show — the National Hockey League, Premier League, National Basketball Association, NASCAR, the Triple Crown, Notre Dame Football, and the Open Championship, among many others. The systems built by Black have focused on both high concurrent traffic and scale, and now operate on more than 15,000 events per year, resulting in billions of consumed minutes.

X

Scott Kegley

Executive Director of Digital Media & Innovation

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSAS Roma/European Tour/Minnesota Vikings: Unlocking the Value : Getting ahead in the Race for Sponsorship

Scott Kegley is going into his third season with the Minnesota Vikings. As the Executive Director, Digital & Innovation, Scott oversees all aspects of digital media, social media, mobile strategy and online content. Under Scott’s leadership, the team has created several innovative campaigns such as The V.I.G. (Vikings Instagram Group) Vinekings and The Vinekings, which won a 2017 Shorty Award. With a unique approach to digital storytelling, the Vikings consistently rank in the top quartile in content consumption amongst NFL teams. The Vikings new mobile app has been featured in the “top free sports apps” on iTunes, and is a pillar of the team’s digital ticketing and fan experience initiatives at U.S. Bank Stadium. Prior to joining the Vikings, Scott spent nine seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as the head of their social and digital team. A three-time Webby Award Honoree, Kegley was named to Brand Innovator’s 40 Under 40 West in 2015.

X

Paul Fisher

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Paul Fisher runs the UK’s leading racecourse group, which stages the likes of The Cheltenham Festival, the Randox Health Grand National and The Investec Derby Festival and welcomes around four million people a year to its venues.

Paul has led the group to achieve eight consecutive years of growth and has been pivotal to introducing a raft of successful innovations including: Jockey Club Services, which provides business services to UK sports organisations and was awarded the Sports Innovation Award at the Sports Business Awards; Jockey Club Live, which quickly established itself as one of the UK’s largest music promoters; Rewards4Racing, British racing’s first loyalty scheme, which now has more than one million members and Jockey Club Catering, a £50 million joint venture with the world’s largest caterer, Compass Group plc.

X

Mike Grahl

Chief Digital Officer

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSArsenal/McLaren/Milwaukee Bucks: Panning for Gold - Making Sense of the Glut of Numbers

As the Chief Digital Officer, Grahl oversees all digital marketing efforts across websites, mobile, social media, email & database platforms for the Milwaukee Bucks and the new multi-purpose arena in downtown Milwaukee set to open in Fall of 2018.

Mike is entering his 20th season with the Bucks where he began his professional career as an intern in the Sales and Marketing Department. He has led the Bucks digital marketing efforts for the past 18 years and continues to grow the team’s digital presence with a focus on content creation, fan engagement, brand building, creative partnerships and revenue generation.

Under Mike’s direction, the Bucks digital team has significantly enhanced the digital fan experience. The team has earned peer voted NBA Digital innovation awards in back to back years, rank in the top 5 in the NBA consistently in social media and app engagement metrics and has enhanced the fan experience and grown team revenue through creative and innovative use of cross-platform marketing automation.

X

Adam Barrick

Director of Strategic Partnerships

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSDraftKings/Wanda/EE: Football Through a Social Lens - The Brand View

Adam Barrick joined DraftKings in September 2015 as the Director of Strategic Partnerships. In his position, Adam plays a key role in leading DraftKings’ business development and sports sponsorship strategies.

Adam has over 10 years experience in the sports and media industries and manages a portfolio of 50+ local, national and international partnerships, which include a variety of leagues, teams, venues as well as partners in the entertainment and tech spaces. Prior to DraftKings, Adam spent time as the Senior Director, Partnership Sales at City Football Group (CFG) and as the Director, Sponsorship Sales & Partnerships at the New York Mets.

X

Noah Whinston

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

With a background in data driven sports betting and dropping out of college, Noah Whinston leads the powerhouse esports franchise Immortals as founder and CEO. Whinston’s esports experience ranges from negotiating streaming and sponsorship deals and creating content strategy to cleaning up after Immortals’ professional esports athletes.

X

Michele Attisani

Co-Founder

Speaker at

As the Co-founder of FACEIT, Michele has been a competitive gamer for over 15 years. His passion for gaming is complemented by a career working in a top investment & consulting firm that’s worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, and he has personally been involved in several technology start-ups.

FACEIT is the leading competitive platform for online multiplayer games, with more than 4 million users logging in a total of over 12 million online game sessions each month. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated tournament management and matchmaking technology.

James Rushton

Speaker at

James joined Premium TV in 2003, prior to its merger with Inform Group in 2007 to become Perform. James is the CEO of DAZN and has been involved in the creation of DAZN from the very beginning. Previously, he has held multiple senior roles within Perform including Managing Director of APAC, Managing Director of Australia & New Zealand and Managing Director of ePlayer. Before joining Perform, James held the position of Commercial Director at Birmingham City Football Club.

X

Jan Pommer

Director, Team Relations

Speaker at

As Director of Team Relations, Jan concentrates on the involvement of sports clubs, leagues and federations, based on his many years of experience in the sporting sector, in order to establish eSport and to create synergies with traditional sporting areas. From 2005 to 2015, Jan Pommer served as Managing Director of the Basketball League (BBL) and was also a member of the Supervisory Board of Euroleague Basketball during this time. In 2010, he was awarded the “Sportmanager of the Year” by the German marketing magazine Horizont. Prior to joining ESL, he was Managing Director of DSM GmbH, the marketing company of the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB). With nearly 20 years of professional experience in the sports sector, Jan Pommer is ideally suited to strategically place the ESL in this market and to link both markets.

X

Akshay Khanna

Vice President of Strategy

Speaker at

Akshay K. Khanna joined the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils/Prudential Center in July 2015 as the Head of the Business Strategy Department, where he is responsible for driving the organization’s strategic direction and new business initiatives and investments. Khanna was recently selected to be a part of the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 class in 2017.

Over his past year and a half with the Sixers organization he has played a crucial role in initiating some of the sports industry and NBA team’s most innovative and groundbreaking business decisions. Under Khanna’s guidance the Sixers have become the first team in North American professional sports to acquire and merge two eSports teams; launched the most dynamic Innovation Lab managed by a professional sports team in the United States; developed a groundbreaking ticketing platform that has revolutionized the live event industry and ticketing ecosystem; and signed a landmark agreement to become the first professional team in “Big Four” North American sports with a jersey patch sponsor.

X

Richard Gould

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Richard joined Surrey CCC and The Oval in 2011 having previously been CEO at Somerset for 6 years and a Commercial Director for Bristol City 2001-2005 beforehand. Richard also has a military background having been in the Royal Tank Regiment for 10 years as well as being educated at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in addition to Harvard Business School.

X

Olivier Gers

Chief Executive Officer

Speaker at

Olivier Gers is the CEO of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) which has enjoyed an outstanding year of global events hosted in Uganda, Kenya, Bahamas and London with more athletes, fans and global engagement than ever before. Gers has more than 20 years of commercial, marketing and media experience, leading large global teams in creating revenue driven products, networks and brands. Prior to joining the IAAF, Gers was Global President of LiquidThread, a division of Publicis Media Group based in the UK. Gers spent 18 years in the United States in leadership roles with FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide and as Global Head of IMG Digital Media in New York before heading to the UK in 2010 as CEO of Endemol Worldwide Brands. A native Frenchman, Gers has a track record of revenue growth and harnessing the power of digital platforms to drive marketing innovation and profitability.

X

Bart Wiley

Chief Operating Officer

Speaker at

Promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2014 from his previous role as Vice President of Business Operations, Bart Wiley oversees all business operations for Sounders FC, including sales, marketing, corporate partnerships, communications, broadcast and digital-related content, international marketing and community outreach.

Under his guidance, Seattle has garnered unprecedented business-related success for a North American soccer club, including the top eight single- season attendance totals in MLS history, culminating in an active sellout streak of 146 consecutive matches heading into the 2017 season. Sounders FC’s 2016 average attendance per-match was good for second in the Americas last season, with the club holding firm amongst the top 30 clubs in global football attendance for the past two seasons. Wiley previously spent four seasons as Director of Business Development for Sounders FC, receiving the MLS Operations Director of the Year Award for his efforts during the club’s inaugural MLS campaign in 2009. Wiley served six seasons as General Manager of the USL Sounders, where he was responsible for the day-to- day business operations of the club.

X

Drew Barrand

Marketing Director

Speaker at

Drew has worked in the global sport industry for nearly two decades in a variety of different commercial and marketing roles. He has been at the English Football League (EFL) for the past three years managing the oldest league in the world’s marketing, digital and broadcast delivery. Most recently, Drew led the EFL’s innovative work in launching the new iFollow service – a live digital streaming OTT platform that allows fans of EFL clubs from all over the world to watch their team play live.

X

Jamie Hindhaugh

Chief Operating Officer

Speaker at

Jamie joined BT Sport on 15th October 2012 as the Chief Operating Officer to build the infrastructure, broadcast chain and operating model for the launch of BT Sport. In August BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and BT Sport ESPN all started broadcasting from the brand new purpose built studio facility on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. From the 1st August 2015 the BT Sport offering has been expanded to 13 channel outlets to deliver the exclusive Champions League and Europa League coverage, as well as the launch of Europe’s first 4k UHD sports channel.

Jamie started his TV career as a transport coordinator at the BBC. Since then he has had many roles in the BBC including Head of Sourcing Production Resources and culminating as the Head of Production L2012 – responsible for the BBC’s multiplatform coverage of the Olympics, Paralympics and other key national events in 2012.

X

Jean Jimenez

Director of Digital Products and Emerging Technologies

Speaker at

Jean serves as Director of Digital Products and Emerging Technologies for the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). CONCACAF provides support to FIFA, while raising the profile of football further, by staging its own competitions and through other activities. Jean, who joined CONCACAF in 2013, spearheads the digital commercialization for the organization. He has leveraged significantly digital platforms creating a solid connection with the game fans across the region. Prior to CONCACAF, Jean was responsible for sales and business development for the Hispanic market in North America and across Latin America at Mobile Messaging Solutions (MMS).

X

Matt Stevenson

Head of Sports Sponsorship

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSDraftKings/Wanda/EE: Football Through a Social Lens - The Brand View

Matt is Head of Sports Sponsorship at leading mobile network, EE (previously Orange). He has over 20 years of brand and comms experience including 14 years dedicated to sponsorship and partnership activations, which has seen him work across a number of high-profile brands such as Nike, O2 and now EE.

Before joining EE, Matt played a pivotal part in the launch of NikeTown London during his four years at the iconic brand. He then moved to O2, where he spent eight years leading the brand’s music sponsorship programme, which included the successful launch of the O2 Wireless Festival (now in its 10th year).

At EE, Matt is in charge of leading the company’s sports sponsorship portfolio. Entering into his eighth year, Matt has taken the brand through a number of key brand partnerships with the England men’s team, FA Cup, Football League, NFL and most notably, the six-year multi-million pound deal with Wembley Stadium.

Having led the negotiation, contract and now the activation of the deal, Matt’s role is to ensure that EE’s technology and network plays a central part in creating a true partnership between the brand, Wembley and The FA.

X

David Cipullo

Director, Media & Marketing Competency Center

Speaker at

SOCIAL FANALYTICSDraftKings/Wanda/EE: Football Through a Social Lens - The Brand View

David has an extremely diversified background in global sales, corporate consulting, marketing and internationalising properties, and is currently the Head of Infront’s Media and Marketing Centre in Zug, Switzerland. He leads a team that analyses sports’ best practices, benchmarks sponsorship and media rights sales, optimises sponsorship structures, manages Wanda’s partnerships with FIFA and FIBA, and coordinates global sales across Infront’s portfolio. He has played a major role in centralising rights and integrating digital initiatives for key properties, including the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), Four Hills ski jumping, Champions Hockey League (CHL), Turkish Basketball League (TBL), Velon Cycling and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Prior to Infront, David performed sales roles across the industry, including Head of Partnerships for Liverpool FC and Director of Sales for the USA-based agency, Team Services, LLC.